This blog has been developed to facilitate interactive conversations about the Maynard School District. Individual student or personal matters must still be discussed privately with the appropriate personnel in the schools.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Parent/Community Forum Q&A

Hello,

I would like to remind all of our parents that the topic of safety and security will be on the January 3, 2013 School Committee agenda. The School Committee Meetings are held at the Coolidge School, 12 Bancroft Street at 7:00 PM.

I have received additional questions from parents and am working on answering those questions for publication on this blog.

Sincerely,

Bob Gerardi

Maynard Public Schools

Parent/Community Forum on
Security and Safety Q&A

12/17/2012

1.Q:What are the exact times that the school
doors open for students to come in each morning and for afternoon dismissal?

A:At MHS the doors are open from 6:00 AM until 7:45 AM for
deliveries.At 7:45 AM MHS is locked
during the day until 1:30 PM.Teachers
are assigned to monitor the front door as part of their duty.

At Fowler the doors are open for deliveries
from 4:30 AM till 8:00 AM.The doors are
then locked at 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM.The
doors are open from 2:00PM till 9:00 PM.

At Green Meadow all of our classrooms have exterior doors and they are
locked at all times. We have three points of entry in the morning and
there are staff monitoring each entry.The
Front door is locked following the preschool arrival, at approximately
8:45. The two other entry points are locked once the students enter at
approximately 8:30.There is a midday
preschool dismissal where the front doors are opened for a brief period as the
preschool teachers dismiss their children directly to parents.

For the
Green Meadow dismissal, the front door is unlocked for the 2:30 preschool
dismissal. The door by the third grade is open at 2:40 by a staff member
(generally the principal) who stays by the door for the entire dismissal.
The two entry points are closed once all students are accounted for.The main entrance remains open for EXCELL and
Boys and Girls Club, Cub Scouts, Girls Scouts, and cheer leading.

In the last
couple of days, other school districts have identified that they do not have
any lock or buzzer system.They have stated
that the culture of their community is that they have community schools that
are open to all.Likewise, our schools
are used after school and on the weekends extensively by community agencies
like Boys and Girls club Cub Scouts, Girls Scouts, Recreation and Athletic leagues,
and cheer leading.In the past, our community
as has held an expectation that Maynard has community schools and our community
will have to reconsider this as we move forward.

2.Q:If someone is not recognized when they buzz
in at the front door, how does the staff respond?

A:The staff is trained to request information, have the visitors sign into
a log book, and assign a visitor Badge so that they are recognizable as an
outsider in the building.

3.Q:Several Parents mentioned that there are
times when the staff is not checking visitors after they are buzzed in.

A:We will be reviewing our protocols in light of this tragedy.It is very easy for a staff member in an
office area to try and multitask during the course of a busy day.We now have to reexamine the duties that
individuals are responsible for and make sure that security and safety are our
#1 priority.

4.Q:What is a Lock Down Drill?

A: A Lock Down Drill is a simulated event
that is similar to a Fire Drill.Everyone evacuates the building as in a fire drill because the goal is
to get everyone out of the building safely.

In a lock Down Drill everyone finds a
predetermined safe space in a locked room.In addition the teacher has a way to signify if their room is safe so
that the first responders can solve the problem more quickly.

5.Q: How
is the Lock Down Drill Communicated?

A:The Lock Down Drill is initiated through a message from the Principal
through the loud Speaker system.

6.Q:Are Lock Down Drills the same at every school
building?

A:Lock Down Drills are similar in each building.However, some strategies are adjusted based
on the individual needs or strengths of each building.Additionally, the older students may be
provided other opportunities to learn about safety after the Lock Down

7.Q:How do teachers explain the Lock Down Drill
to students?

A:Teachers are advised on the protocols of various drills during their
faculty meeting times after the school day.We tell students that this drill is about being safe.We explain their role in being safe.

8.Q:If there were a real Lock Down event, how
quickly would parents be notified or would they have to hear about it through
the media?

A:Every incident provides a different scenario.With iPhone and iPad Technology, parents are
likely to hear or even see video about an incident almost instantaneously.Then The Media often gets to a scene and
provides minimal and vague information based on what they can find.

The Schools or the incident command must
follow protocols before parents can be contacted and students dismissed.I say incident command because once the
police arrive on the scene they take over from the schools to become incident
command and make these decisions.If the
SWAT Team or State Hazmat team is on the scene then they may take over
command.Each incident is different.

I like to use an example of a
mock incident that I participated in when I was a member of theRI Emergency Planning Curricula for local Police,
Fire, and Education Committee.In this incident a person was angry at a science teacher and
accidentally shot some chemicals while attacking others in the science class,
there was a need call Police and Fire initially,Once the fire department realized that the smoke
was a chemical reaction, they called in the state Hazmat team.In this scenario, the media may be on the
scene with basic information about the incident but a Hazmat Team may be the
incident command.They may have the
schools inform parents that some of the students who where not affected will be
transported to another school for dismissal while other students will need to
be scrubbed on site before they are transported to hospitals for final
release.In this scenario, Parents will
get information as the incident unfolds and depending on incident command

9.Q:A student reported to their parent that a
substitute did not know the protocols for a Lock Down so the students had to
tell the Substitute teacher what to do, is this common?

A:Unfortunately this does happen on occasion when a substitute has not had
a chance to read the teacher substitute folder.However, as the year goes on our substitute pool stays consistent and
they understand our systems.Another parent
also identified that the goal of the drill is for everyone to know their role
and isn’t it wonderful that our students know their role well enough to teach
the substitute teacher.

10.Q: During the day are the individual
classrooms locked?

A:Not usually.In fact at Green
meadow, sometimes collaborative classroom activities happen.If they were happening and a lock down drill
was required, they would go back to their rooms.

11.Q:Was
any thought given to additional Police Presence?

A:Yes, Chief Dubois had considered it. However
he has had similar experiences in other communities where additional Police
presence created higher anxiety for students.

12.Q:Should we consider physical improvements to the building

or improving the
campus grounds with a gated entry?

A:We would have to weigh the cost to benefits of physical
improvements.You can create a fortress
but a determined attacker will always research your facilities weakness

Also, we already have had physical
improvement recommendations as a result of our drills.For example, the addition of blinds in some
classrooms will make them less obviously susceptible from outside intrusion.

13.Q:Are
regular walk throughs of the buildings conducted?

A:That is the Principal and Assistant Principals job.They walk through their building and grounds
regularly.

Also, our custodians are expected to do
rounds at the end of their shift to identify any suspicious activity or
physical plant problems.

14.Q:Do
we have security cameras?

A:Yes but they are limited.That is
another area that we have talked about improvements.

2 comments:

The new high school will have electronic locks on the exterior doors that are card activated. Card systems are much easier to monitor and activate or deactivate than traditional keyed system.

People entering the building can only do so through the main entry. There will be a glassed in foyer with electronic buzz through. At the main entrance the secretary will be seated in a way facing the entry area with a clear direct sight line to everyone entering the building, will have a slide open slide closed window that can be used, and will buzz people into and out of the building. The main loading dock and rear entry to the theater/band area are also on electronic, card activated locks.

There will also be a camera monitoring system. We will learn about the details of the camera system at the next Building Committee Meeting.